Hip Hillsboro - July 7, 2017

[luv4corps]

1 hour ago, DrumManTx said:

What a great start for Oregon Crusaders and Seattle Cascades! They're usually around 13 - 17 behind Blue Knights in these first few shows.   

I have to give OC props for coming on after that inspired BD show that was so good it drained the crowd of its energy.  There is something REALLY special about BD17 but ANYWAY, on comes OC and you know they pulled it off.  This is likely their best hornline ever - focused, balanced and extremely well blended.

I'd like to see more visual development in the show and I know there will be but hey, they got the first one out of the way.

Cascades sounded amazing and they looked beautiful out there.  The show had a lot of interesting elements, including a giant bird cage and I loved most it but thought the brass accompaniment to a recorded soundtrack in the ballad went on just a bit too long.  

I'll write more tomorrow - after I've recovered from this amazing evening of drum corps.  This was a great line-up.  Hillsboro stadium, which is about four times larger than any other venue they use was PACKED and the place was rockin'.

Edited July 8, 2017 by luv4corps

[The_Reasonable_Man]

What a great night of drum corps. My brief thoughts below:

Open Class - nothing shows the stability of modern drum corps like the absolute quality coming out of open class these days. Wow. Battalion, Columbians and Golden Empire all put on shows that, when I marched, would have easily made "Top 25" and likely quite a bit higher.

Golden Empire was the smallest of the three (about 40 horns?) and had the least interesting show design, but was pretty clearly the cleanest. I don't notice drum lines much, but thought theirs was their strongest section. Cool backdrops that framed the field nicely for the smaller group. Good guard. This corps deserved its win tonight.

The Columbians fielded around 50 horns and had a bigger, fuller sound. They seem to have taken a different approach to show design this year, and I'm not sure it an improvement. Much of the show is interspersed with the poem "Do Not Gently." Too much narration which, for me, distracted from what the corps was doing. Overall, this show didn't much range of emotion - just anger. Adagio was nice, but I found myself wanting more of it (that's a compliment). As an alum of two fallen northwest corps, I love seeing a strong open class corps like Columbians in our backyard. 

Battalion - huge, loud, and visually very dirty. Were those Freelancers old uniforms? They have an old-school show design, which I appreciated. 4 songs. No narration. Readable (but currently very dirty) drill. I think I counted 12 contras, which is absurd for a second year open class corps. Clearly they are on the right path. 

World Class

Cascades - its great to see this corps continue to grow and improve every year. This was very "modern" show design - buckoo electronics, a solo vocalist during the Sia closer, a huge bird cage, narration, hornline dancing. My 10 year old daughter liked this one quite a bit. The shows starts with a few fleeting phrases out of the pit from Freebird before  I was hopeful we'd get the rest of it somewhere, but I didn't catch it (which is a bummer). Accessible music. This is clearly the most talented Cascades corps in quite a few years and they have a show that is fan-friendly and an easy sell. My hunch is it won't be enough to overtake Oregon Crusaders by Indy, but it should let them make a jump up the standings.

Oregon Crusaders - tough for them to follow BD. I know its their homeshow and all, but I seriously think the crowd would have had more energy for them had they not gone on after BD burned the place down. This looks like the biggest and best OC ever, and they have their most mature show design ever, too. It is delightfully old-school. No samples. No obvious electronics. No huge props. The hornline marches in big, complex forms more than it dances. They wear shakos. This IS your father's drum corps, and its done quite well. I thought the spread between OC and Cascades would be higher. The hornline was the strong point for me - they will blow some faces off by the end of the summer. Guard the weak point. They are cleaner visually at this point than in years past. I thought they had the best ballad of the night (the Enya song). It did what a drum corps ballad should - started softly, was accompanied by flowing drill, built, went backfield, had complete musical phrases, and blew our faces off in the end. Bravo. My guess is this corps won't make finals, but who knows. 

BK - I have hated BK in the past, but this show is great. Much has been written elsewhere on these guys, so I'll sum just sum up by sharing what my 10-year old daughter randomly screamed 1/3 of the way through the show: "This is SO AWESOME!"

BD - I haven't seen BD live in probably 10 years. When I did, they were unrecognizable from the corps I loved in the 80s and 90s. This is BD at their finest. They were fantastic. 

Thanks to OC for putting on a great show. It was a real treat for us in the NW corner to get to see 7 fantastic drum corps in one night. 

[erikofsix]

8 hours ago, luv4corps said:

I have to give OC props for coming on after that inspired BD show that was so good it drained the crowd of its energy.  There is something REALLY special about BD17 but ANYWAY, on comes OC and you know they pulled it off.  This is likely their best hornline ever - focused, balanced and extremely well blended.

I'd like to see more visual development in the show and I know there will be but hey, they got the first one out of the way.

Cascades sounded amazing and they looked beautiful out there.  The show had a lot of interesting elements, including a giant bird cage and I loved most it but thought the brass accompaniment to a recorded soundtrack in the ballad went on just a bit too long.  

I'll write more tomorrow - after I've recovered from this amazing evening of drum corps.  This was a great line-up.  Hillsboro stadium, which is about four times larger than any other venue they use was PACKED and the place was rockin'.

I agree! It was great to have the show back at Hillsboro stadium and it was packed!!!  Lots of support for Drum Corps out there last night. It was great to see. 

[luv4corps]

9 hours ago, The_Reasonable_Man said:

 

Oregon Crusaders - tough for them to follow BD. I know its their homeshow and all, but I seriously think the crowd would have had more energy for them had they not gone on after BD burned the place down.

I could not agree more.  BD was ON FIRE at that show.  

Edited July 8, 2017 by luv4corps

[luv4corps]

OK I promised a review.  It is brief but here it is.

Golden Empire:  This corps makes much of its limited size.  The visual program held my interest from start to finish and I agree with another poster who said they were the cleanest of the open class corps.  The color guard made the best of things as did the brass.

The Colombians:  What a beautiful use of Adagio for Strings - woven throughout the show.  I just loved the arrangement.  Visually it could not have been more different than last year's show but it worked.  It is really too bad this corps doesn't go to Michigan City for open class finals because I really do believe they would be competitive.

Battalion:  Big sound!  This was punctuated by the silent moments in keeping with the design of the show.  I really liked the silent moments and what went on visually during them. Of the three open class corps, this was my favorite design.  The drill was a bit dirty though.  Clean it up and this show scores way better.

Seattle Cascades:  They are on the rise!  I have enjoyed the past three years so much and this year, I feel they will hang with OC, Pacific Crest and Spirit.  This is a gorgeous show and overall, the corps looks striking out there.  The bird cage is very effective.  There were many moments in the show that moved me.  The brass sounds stronger than ever and the color guard is really bringing baring some visual weight.  I absolutely love the big yellow wings.  Beautiful job.  The only negative for me is the song sound track with the brass accompaniment at the beginning of the ballad.  Yes, they kill it with brass a bit later but, I don't know, I am just not a fan of recorded music in drum corps shows.

Blue Knights:  This show took me by surprise as I had not looked into what the show was about ahead of time.  The Imogene Heap ballad was SUBLIME.  Visually the show just kept growing on me and by the end I was ready to throw a baby out on the field.  Really nice job, BK.  Likely one of my favorites of 2017.

Blue Devils:  This is by far their most relatable show since I became a fan of drum corps in 2010.  I have struggled to love BD shows.  The execution is always there but I just haven't grasped the shows and felt like I needed a PhD in literature to understand them.  This is a show everyone will get.  Just phenomenal.  Crowd pleaser on steroids.

Oregon Crusaders:  Can we talk about this hornline?  Best ever IMO.  I like the concept of this show A LOT.  The color guard seems much improved and will only get better.  The show stalls for me at times, especially visually, but no doubt the corps will work this out.  It would be great if they could achieve a top 15 finish.